SHO in 1D Differential Equation

We start off with the equation:

d2 y
+ 2 y = 0
dx2
Now let w =
tions:

dy
dx .

(1)

Then we have a system of first order linear differential equady

=w
dx
dw
= 2 y
dx

This is conveniently represented as a matrix equation:

 0 
 
y
0
1
y
=
w0
2 0
w

(2)
(3)

(4)

Now we go about solving it in the standard way by determining the eigenvalues

and vectors of the matrix. The eigenvalues are:
= i

(5)

The eigenvectors are:

 
1
i


1
2 =
i
1 =

The complete solution is therefore:

 
 


y
1
1
ix
=A
e
+B
eix
w
i
i

(6)
(7)

(8)

Focusing on just the top line we have:

y = Aeix + Beix

(9)

Now this looks really promising but its a bit trickier than that. We have to
remember that A and B can be complex. Then we have:
y = (a1 eix + b1 eix ) + i(a2 eix + b2 eix )

(10)

Now converting to trigonometric form:

y = (a1 + b1 ) cos(x) + (a2 b2 ) sin(x) + i((a2 + b2 ) cos(x) + (a1 b1 ) sin(x))
(11)
1

However if we differentiate this twice we get complex is in our expression for

d2 y
dx2 which we didnt have before. Therefore the complex part must equal zero.
This implies:
a1 = b1

(12)

a2 = b2

(13)

Which means B = A and the proper solution is:

y = Aeix + Beix
For some complex A.

(14)